


like a glass bottle filled with sweets

by starryhoch (slytherminie)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Cooking, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, jeonghan is good with kids, kinda not really but they're definitely on the same page, mingyu is a sweet uncle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29663919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherminie/pseuds/starryhoch
Summary: Today there’s a surprise waiting for Jeonghan once he opens the door, no Kim Mingyu in sight. It’s a tiny girl, looking not older than four, maybe five, her eyes big and round and her lips pursed. She looks up at him, and Jeonghan can see dried tear tracks on her cheeks.
Relationships: Kim Mingyu/Yoon Jeonghan
Comments: 18
Kudos: 66





	like a glass bottle filled with sweets

**Author's Note:**

> hello and welcome to my monthly installment of writing a fic for each jeonghan pairing haha yeah i'm doing that for realsies apparently!! so here, accept this extremely self indulgent little thing that got grinded out in like 4 hours and that was born thanks to that show ep in which gyuhan took care of the two lil girls. yeah. have a belated happy valentine day i guess.  
> title from red velvet's [butterflies](https://open.spotify.com/track/0cZMA3EdKJKrKoGQEeMhFJ?si=zhVshTo_S0iCh46ru4MJsA)

The doorbell rings, waking Jeonghan up from whatever daydream he was living in as he stirred tteokbokki in the pan, his eyes fixed on the red tiles of his kitchen. He lowers the flame, walking to the door and opening it up without checking through the peephole - not that he’s expecting guests today, but these days his neighbor is the one knocking on his door more often than not, with whatever excuse he has cooked up for that day. 

It was sugar missing in his kitchen one morning, as he propped his hand on his hip and cocked his head to the side, some flour on the tip of his nose and a plea for Jeonghan to lend him some sugar on his tongue, smiling wide when Jeonghan agreed to landing him some. 

And then it was toilet paper, and a promise of  _ this is the last favour I’m asking you, hyung, I swear _ , except he came back the day after with a pout on his lips to ask if Jeonghan could please give him his hairdryer, because his own had apparently broken down, leaving him standing at Jeonghan’s door with tousled, damp hair and a white tank top that left nothing about his upper body to the imagination. 

Jeonghan is a good man, despite whatever his friends like to say about him - lies, if you ask Jeonghan, they’re all lies, especially the ones coming out of Joshua’s mouth. He’s a good man, a man with principles, but there’s just so many times he can resist climbing Kim Mingyu like a tree when he shows up in his apartment with thin shirts that cling to his torso and sweatpants so low-rise that every time he lifts his arms up Jeonghan gets a clear view of his toned stomach. 

Today there’s a surprise waiting for Jeonghan once he opens the door, no Kim Mingyu in sight. It’s a tiny girl, looking not older than four, maybe five, her eyes big and round and her lips pursed. She looks up at him, and Jeonghan can see dried tear tracks on her cheeks. 

“Hi,” Jeonghan tells her, his eyebrows knitting in concern as he takes in the state of her clothes, her pretty white and pink shirt having specks of what seems like blue and red paint all over it. There’s some on her chin too, a blue fingerprint that is probably the result of her colored fingers that Jeonghan just noticed. 

“Hello,” she says, sounding shy, “I’m here to ask if we can come over for lunch.”

Jeonghan doesn’t know who this kid belongs to, so he turns his head left and right, not spotting anyone else in the hallway except the two of them. 

“Sure you can,” Jeonghan says, while crouching down to get to her eye level. “Who did you come here with?” 

The little girl bounces on the balls of her feet, smiling despite the evident fact that she was crying until no long before.

“Uncle sent me here,” she replies, not very helpful. “He said to come over at Hannie-oppa’s place and that you would give me some sweets if I asked nicely.”

Jeonghan looks along the corridor once again, just to be sure that there’s no one there. When he meets eyes with the kid again, she has her bottom lip between her teeth, tears already at the corners of her eyes.

“Will oppa give me sweets?” She pleads, rubbing her palms against her cheeks and smearing paint over them. There’s not much he can do aside from taking this girl inside his home, since she’s on the verge of tears. 

“Of course, of course,” Jeonghan tells her, standing to his full stature and smiling at her. “Will you tell oppa your name?”

“I’m Kim Minji!” She tells him, sniffling lightly but clearly not about to cry anymore. When Jeonghan moves inside she follows, her eyes doubling in size when she takes in the gigantic TV in his living room. 

“Oppa! Can we watch a movie?” 

Jeonghan doesn’t have time to reply to her, the doorbell ringing again and making him jump up in surprise. 

“Uncle!” Minji yells, launching herself at the door - she can’t reach the handle, so she stands in front of it, waiting for Jeonghan to catch up with her and open up. In the hallway, with red paint all over his clothes and hair, there’s no other than Kim Mingyu, a bashful smile on his lips as he rubs the back of his neck.

Minji jumps in his arms before he can even say a word, and he catches her and hoists her up, smiling softly at her. A pang in Jeonghan’s chest, right around his heart, as Minji kneads her hands all over Mingyu’s face and leaves red and blue fingerprints on his skin. 

“Hey hyung, I’m sorry to bother you.” The expression on Mingyu’s face is a mixture of shy and apologetic as Minji keeps running her tiny fingers between his hair, tugging at strands as she blabbers about being hungry. “She didn’t want to listen to me, and she didn’t want to eat what I made for her.”

“It’s ok, come inside.”

“Were you cooking something?”

Shit, Jeonghan thinks, his lunch. He runs to the stove, stirring the food in the pan and sighing to himself upon realizing that it’s still edible and not burnt to a crisp.

“Tteokbokki,” he replies, smiling to himself at the delighted squeal that he hears coming from Minji’s mouth, behind his back. 

“I want!” 

When Jeonghan turns around, Minji is making grabby hands at Jeonghan’s general direction, her lips pursed. “Oppa! I’m hungry!”

“Minji-yah!” Mingyu reprimands her, gently coaxing her into looking at him. The same pang as earlier makes Jeonghan’s hand move to rub at his sternum as he gulps down sudden butterflies. Stupid crushes, never minding their own business. “You have to ask oppa if he will please share with you!”

“It’s ok, we can share, I’ve made enough for all three of us.” 

It isn’t a lie, because he has cooked enough to last him a couple of days, and he doesn’t mind sharing his meals, especially when there are stars in Minji’s eyes as she extends her arms towards Jeonghan, clearly asking him to take her from Mingyu’s hold. Jeonghan obliges, making her bounce up and down in his embrace, emitting delighted giggles. 

“We can go set a movie up while your uncle finishes making lunch, what do you say?” 

Her happy squeal is enough of an answer, so Jeonghan moves towards the sofa, letting Minji cling to him and sending a wink over his shoulder at Mingyu, who has a grateful smile on his face as he places himself in front of the stove. 

It doesn’t take long for lunch to be ready, and Minji is clapping in excitement as Mingyu brings their plates over, placing them over the coffee table. He has a bib in the backpocket of his jeans - suspicious, Jeonghan realizes, but he doesn’t comment on it, taking his own share of food from the younger’s hands.

“I want Hannie-oppa to help me,” Minji pouts as Mingyu presents her a spoonful of food. There’s a plea on Mingyu’s face when he raises it towards Jeonghan, his eyes almost as big as the ones of his niece - now that he’s looking at them side to side, making the same face up at him, Jeonghan can see the resemblance. With a sigh, Jeonghan puts his chopsticks down. 

“Of course,” he says, shifting closer to where Minji is sitting and taking the spoon in Mingyu’s hand to present it to the girl, who’s waiting with her mouth wide open. She munches on the food, her cheeks full, so cute that Jeonghan almost coos at her. When she’s halfway through her meal she says she wants to eat by herself, so Mingyu makes her seat on the floor and gives her the spoon. 

As focused as Jeonghan is on them, he almost forgets that his own plate is still full. He dives in, trying not to let his eyes linger on the way Mingyu makes sure to crouch on the floor and clean the corners of Minji’s mouth when she’s done eating, using the bib tied around her neck. She smiles at him, and then climbs back on the sofa, sinking in it and finally paying attention to the cartoon characters running on the TV screen. 

She’s fallen asleep before Jeonghan can count to ten, her head against Jeonghan’s thigh, and Mingyu sags in his seat, letting the back of his head thump against the backrest. 

“Busy morning?” Jeonghan taunts him, his voice low, chuckling when Mingyu curls his nose up, his eyes scrunching closed. 

“I’m sorry,” he replies, “I didn’t know what to do. I knew you were probably making lunch, and that she’d like you.”

“It’s ok.” Jeonghan pats Mingyu’s hair, letting his hand rest on top of his head when Mingyu doesn’t shy away from the touch. “I was just surprised. I didn’t know you had a niece.” 

“She’s my brother’s daughter. He asked me to babysit her today because he wanted to take his wife out for lunch, since it’s their anniversary.”

“That’s sweet of him.” Jeonghan’s fingers have started playing with strands of Mingyu’s hair, and the younger doesn’t seem to mind, his face relaxing, his frown dissolving with each slow caress against his scalp. “And it’s sweet of you that you’re helping him out.”

“Minji is adorable, but she’s full of energy. We painted all morning and she still wanted to draw more instead of eating lunch, so I had to distract her with the promise of sweets.”

“I can see that you had fun,” Jeonghan giggles, pointing at the stains on his face. “If you want to go take a shower while she sleeps, I’m sure she’ll be out for a while.”

Mingyu’s eyes open, and when he sets his gaze on Jeonghan there’s an indecipherable light in them, one that makes Jeonghan’s heart stutter a bit. He turns his head in Jeonghan’s direction, leaning in his personal space. 

“I really want to kiss you right now, hyung,” he whispers, his voice making shivers run down Jeonghan’s spine, his breath getting stuck in his throat. 

“You should really go take a shower first,” Jeonghan murmurs back, letting his hand move from the back of Mingyu’s head to his cheek, rubbing his thumb over his red-painted cheek. “And also, I don’t think our first kiss should happen while your niece is in the room, because once I get my hands on you I won’t be able to stop.”

The red that blooms over Mingyu’s cheek has nothing to do with the dried dye splattered all over his face, and Jeonghan feels delighted at the sight, chasing his blush with a brush of his thumb below his eye.

“Go get cleaned before she wakes up and asks for sweets,” Jeonghan encourages him, finally letting his hand fall off Mingyu’s face and smiling at him, tilting his head towards the front door. “I’d offer you to shower here, but I doubt any of my clothes would fit you.”

“Thank you hyung, truly.”

“It’s nothing.”

Mingyu gets to his feet, stretches his arms up and cranes his neck left and right, making it crack. His shirt rides up, offering a flash of naked skin to Jeonghan’s prying eyes - he has to remind himself that there’s a kid in the room.

“Don’t give her any sweets until I’m back,” Mingyu tells him, bending down to place a soft kiss on the top of Minji’s head, and then doing the same thing with Jeonghan, leaving a peck over his forehead. Jeonghan knows his cheeks are the same colour as the dried paint stuck in between Minji’s locks, but he can’t stop the blood from rushing to his face when Mingyu grins at him, his canines showing up.

“I want to eat them too.” 

“We will be waiting for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/starryhoch) or [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/slytherminie) :)


End file.
